Excerpt from Hill's Diary

Diary Kept on the Journey to America 1868

Samuel Magnus Hill

[Monday May] 4th

We left the place in the morning after being served plenty of food and drink,
and many wished us well on our approaching journey. Since we only had one horse,
father and I had to walk almost the entire way, and when we arrived in Eksjö we
were tired. We got to rest briefly while the horses grazed. There a great group
of emigrants met up and purchased various small things for the long trip ahead.
Quite a few of them got drunk as they drank farewell toasts to their homeland.
My paternal grandfather met us there too, because he had been called as a
witness in a case in the magistrates’ court. We said farewell to each other,
never to see him again in this life. God bless his grey hair!

After having prepared ourselves for our journey in this manner we continued
on our way to Nässjö, the railway station nearest to Eksjö. As before, we had to
continue on foot. And since the load had increased for most people, there were
many who had to walk behind [their carts]. Some who had lingered a bit too long
in town were in high spirits, and they traveled down the road in the wildest
speed, continually using the whip on the poor animals, exhausting them, so that
they would catch up with the others, or gain enough time for a stop to renew
their intoxication, in case it had diminished.

In that manner we arrived in Nässjö in the evening and had our belongings
weighed in and loaded up, ready for our departure to Gothenburg. For the first
time I got to see a locomotive pulling train cars, and it was curious to me to
observe its devices.

As there were quite a few people in Nässjö that night, there were no
comfortable lodgings for us and we had to sleep on the floor in unheated rooms.
There were about 100 of us from Västra Ryd alone, and quite a few from other
areas, so we were about 500 individuals at the station travelling to America.

[Tuesday May] 5th

In the morning of the fifth our departure was at 8 o’clock, and we got up
well ahead of that to make ourselves ready. And even though the innkeeper told
us that we did not have to go to the waiting room until seven thirty, were got
there an hour early. I think it was the worst hour of my life, because the room
was so overcrowded that we were packed like sardines in tin and could not move.
And I had my sick brother August to take care of, and I was busy the whole time
pushing people away so that he would not be squeezed to death. The crowding was
all the more dreary since the noise was deafening, some cried and prayed, others
swore, and very few were calm, because they feared that the train would depart
before they could board it. But finally the train arrived on the scheduled time,
and we all got on after some trouble and shoving. Then off we went, first to
Jönköping, where a number of emigrants waited to be united with us, and we were
all in all 1600 traveling to Gothenburg, all of us emigrants to America. The
train consisted of 150 cars when we arrived in Gothenburg. Terrible chaos
erupted there, since some of the checked luggage had been left behind because
the train had become too long. There were three locomotives pulling the train.

(Addition. We had more traveling companions than we had anticipated. My Uncle
Johannes had come along to Eksjö to keep us company. But he was ahead of us in
Jönköping and had traveled ahead to get out of the way. Kalle on Risön had done
the same thing, as had Kalle in Modala, if I don’t remember wrong. The times
were hard in Sweden, and quite a few ran away from wife and children. My Uncle
Johannes had made an agreement with my aunt to leave, and she was to remain in
Sweden. But after a few years she sold their home and followed after [to
America]. They lived in Stanton where Uncle Gustav lived.)

On the trip between Nässjö and Gothenburg we got see many remarkable things
in nature, some of them pretty, some of them stark. First we traveled through
the forests and hills and hillsides of Småland, [and] among them some meadows
and lakes. After that, in Västergötland, moorlands with sand and heather spread
out in front of us. Down toward Falköping there were some small hills covered
with deciduous forest cut through by a stream or a creek. Further down near
Gothenburg high, barren rocky hillsides and hills rose up, and between them
[there] were valleys filled with beautiful fields and meadows, and even a few
lakes and streams meandering between the hills. Among them was the mighty Göta
River, on which big ships rocked as far as the eye could see, so that the river
appeared covered with masts.

The railroad also had to wind in and out between the hills, and sometimes
inside them. One place was especially remarkable, because we had the sea on one
side and a sky-high rock wall on the other. And there were so many curves that
we could not see the end of our train.

After much trouble and unpleasantness we obtained lodging for the night in an
inn, a beerhouse, on Köpmansgatan No. 2. There too it was so crowded that when
we had lain down on the floor, we could barely turn around. Our spot was in the
vestibule and it was quite cold.

[Wednesday May] 6th

I got up early in the morning to warm [myself] up by taking a stroll, and I
walked down to the canal and the harbor, where the ships were. There I had the
opportunity to see, for the first time, a ship with masts and rigging, and it
was exactly as I had envisioned it from reading about it. Later in the day the
left-behind luggage arrived. Money was exchanged and contracts for the journey
were made with the company; we bought tickets and [since] we had made down
payments we were assured of obtaining passage. A few small items were purchased,
a little wine and Persian insect powder.

[Thursday May] 7th.

The day after that we went to see the sights of the city, among them the
great bust of [King] Gustaf Adolf, who had founded the city. In the evening I
was pretty tired, because I had to serve as a guide in the city, even though I
had never been to Gothenburg before. There we met, completely unexpectedly, the
son of our old neighbor, Kalle Hultin, who had left his parents without telling
them where he had gone. He had been to sea, and he promised to write home so
that they did not have to worry about him.

[Friday May] 8th.

Finally the day came for us to leave our dear homeland and meet our unknown
fate. Already at an early hour everyone was up and around. And when everything
had been put in order, we left the inn and walked down to the docks, where the
ship was berthed, ready to receive its freight of people and goods. It was here
that we ran into Karl Hultin. When our things had been stowed, we were also
allowed to get on board and find the best place we could. The name of the ship
was Cato, and it cast off from land at 5:45 PM.

An hour later we had lost sight of land; we had seen our homeland for the
last time. Oh, what a sight! When the last trace [of land] had disappeared, we
hurried below to arrange our sleeping accommodations and eat supper. Our bed was
made on top of one of our trunks, in a strong draft, which, however, was better
than in any other place, because we were on an elevated area of the ship, next
to the stairs to the lower deck. It was good both because no water stayed there,
and because we had our neighbors and friends all around. At the other end of the
ship there were some people from Småland, and they made an awful row. I lost my
wallet, which I had in my coat pocket.